Sand conditioning apparatus



Nov. 5, 1935. D. KNIES 2,020,034

SAND CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 51, 1951 2 Sheets -Sheet 2 /NVEN7'OR Daniel Knies I 4 BY 6 4 777.

ATT'Y Patented Nov: 5, 1935 semi CONDITIONING arrana'rus Daniel .Knies, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company's corporation of Ohio Application December :1, 1931, Serial No. 584,18! 6 Claims. (01. 83-46) My invention relates to sand conditioning apparatus and one of its objects is to provide an improved and eflicient system comprising means for receivingused molding sand, elevating the I same to a hopper, aerating and disintegrating the lumps while passing through a chute and finally delivering the reconditioned sand from a deliverynozzle having a widely expanded mouth, to a conveyor for transfer to hoppers-in posi 10 tion for delivery to molding machines. 9

Another object ofthe invention is to provide an upright disintegrator in a chute and con- -'necting an air blast nozzle to the chute to direct a forced draft against said disintegrator.

18 A further object of the invention is to provide for a disintegrator in a chute a horizontal stratum of forced draft to effect churning of lumps oi'granular material against'the disintegrator between the top and bottom thereof until aer 20 ated, dried and disintegrated. I v g Another object of the invention is the provision of an air blast nozzle having an elongated slot adapted to direct a stratum of forced air draft against a transverse disintegratorin a 25 chute.

A meet object of the invention is the provision of a delivery nozzle having a lower widely expanded mouth and which will serve as an expansion and aerating chamber for the granular 30 material passing into such nozzle.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying-drawings, Y

' Fig. 1 represents diagrammatically my improved system embodying the features of my inveution;-

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the disintegrator and air blast nozzle combined for operation to aerate and recondition used molding sand; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 23 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

In Fig. l a hopper for used molding sand is shown at 4. Such sand when delivered from the hopper 4 will be directed onto the endless conveyor 5 for transfer to the bin 6 from which it can be elevated by means of the bucket conveyor l in the tower 8 for delivery to the hopper 9. v

To the lower end of the hopper 9, as shown in Fig. 2, is connected a chute comprising an elbow ll and a horizontal section I I. The horizontal section II may merge into the delivery nozzle l2 which has an open mouth at its lower side of a width commensurate with the width of the endless traveling conveyor l3.

Extending vertically transversely of the section II is a disintegrator which may be a screen, Q grid or grating. In Figs. 2 and 3 I have shown a grating comprising vertical rods l4, Mwhich are slidable through spaced apart holes in the upper and bottom walls of the horizontal section ll of the chute. The spacing of the vertical l rods may be varied in accordance with the sizes of the lumps of sand which are to be disintegrated or broken, up into separated granules.

To the lower ends of the rods I4 is connected a universal cross-bar l and to the center of this l6 cross-bar at' It is connected the armature post ll of an electrically operated vibrator l8 which maybe of any suitable type such as that shown, for example, in the patent to Reynolds, 1,479,834, granted January 8, 1924, for an Improvement in screening apparatus. The intensity of vibration of the grating It may be regulated by the positioning of the wheel l9.

At that portion of the elbow l0 where the buckets of sand fall intermittently during the operation ofthe elevator l, I have connected an air blast nozzle 20 having a supply pipe 2| leading thereto. The nozzle 20 is particularly constructedlto have superposed elongated slots 22, 2Ias shown in Fig. 3. The compressed air from the supply pipe 2| first enters the chamber 24 and then branches into the fiat horizontal channels 25, 26 above and below the spacing member 21. The inner wall not the spacing member 21 is flush with the inner adjacent walls on the interlor of the elbow I0.

I prefer to construct the nozzle so that it will have the flat channels 25, 26 and the elongated outlet ports 22,23. Theforced draft will then be in horizontal superposed strata against the grating, screen or grid I so that before lumps of sand can descend to the bottom of the elbow they will be thrown forcibly against the disintegrator and rolled about or-churned, aerated and separated into granules and then forcibly swept against the upper deflector wall'of the delivery nozzle l2.

If the blast of air is insuflicient to waft the heavier lumps of sand against the grating and such lumps fall to the lower wall or floor of the horizontal section of the chute near the lower ends of the bars or rods M. the forced draft will nevertheless aerate the sand and dry the same sumciently to separate the granules and cause themto move through the a Any sand which sticks to the bars or rods II by reason of moisture or otherwise will be shaken 01f by means of the electric vibrator ll. The vertical vibration of these bars will also assist in disintegrating the lumps of sand which may accumulate on the bottom or floor of the chute in front of the lower ends of the bars or rods I4.

It should also be observed that the narrow elongated slots or outlets 22, 23 extend almost entirely across the elbow of the chute so that the entire cross-sectional area of the chute will be subjected to the blasts of air in superposed strata.

After the sand passes through the grating it enters the enlarged chamber 30. This chamber serves as an expansion chamber to enable the moisture on the sand to be completely evaporated. The dry sand in the form of completely separated 'granules then passes downwardly in accordance with the deflection effected by the deflector wall 29 and is ejected from the widely expanded mouth on the lower side of the nozzle l2 onto the belt conveyor l3, or a bin or other receptacle.

By means of adjustable deflectors 3| and 32 the sand on the belt [3 may be directed either to the hopper 33 or the hopper 34 for flow into molding machines.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended and I wish therefore not to be restricted to the precise construction herein, disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention what I desire to have protected by Letters Patent of the United States is:-

1. In apparatus for treating granular material, the combination with a chute having an elbow, of an upright grating extending transversely of said chute, an air blast nozzle connected to said elbow to direct a blast of air toward and through said grating, and means for vibrating said grating whilegranular material is passing through said chute by gravity and said blast of air is forcibly waiting said material against said grating to disintegrate lumps thereof.

2. In apparatus for treating granular material, the combination with a chute having an elbow, of an air blast nozzle connected to said elbow and comprising a pair of spaced-apart horizontal slots, a grating mounted in an upright position across a horizontal section of said chute, and

-means.

4. In sand conditioning apparatus, the combination with a hopper for receiving the sand, of a horizontal chute, an elbow connecting said hopper and said horizontal chute, a widely expanded delivery nozzle having an opening on its lower side and serving as an expansion chamber for the sand after passing through said chute, a disintegrator extending vertically across said chute, means for vibrating said disintegrator, and

means for producing horizontal strata of blasts of air against said disintegrator at different elevations.

5. In a system for treating in'olding sand and delivering the same to molding machines, the combination with a receptacle for used molding sand, of a bin, a conveyor for transferring sand from said bin, a hopper, an elevator for hoisting the sand to said hopper, a delivery nozzle having a widely expanded lower mouth open to the atmosphere, an elbow connecting said hopper and said nozzle, a transverse disintegrator between said elbow and said nozzle, an air blast nozzle in said elbow and directed toward said disintegrator, a conveyor for receiving the sand from said delivery nozzle, and a hopper for receiving the sand from said conveyor.

6. Apparatus for treating granular material comprising the combination with a chute having aligned upper and lower openings, of a disintegrator within the chute comprising upright spaced bars extending through the said openings. a universal cross bar connecting the said upright bars, and means for vertically vibrating the cross bar to impart vertical vibrations to the upright bars for dislodging material adhering thereto.

DANEL KNIES. 

